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2008/08/24

Shibuya Station Architectural in Tokyo by Tadao Ando

This station design is based on what he calls a ‘chichusen,’ or underground spaceship. Commuters board the buried flying saucer near the top of the atrium and are carried down to the tracks at its base. This station has an atrium from top to bottom, you can easily see where you are. It gives you a sense of security.

The environmental benefits of Ando’s new building don’t stop at getting people to leave their motors at home. The design allows fresh air and light to circulate via the atrium and a ventilation shaft, and the glass-fibre reinforced concrete skin of the ‘spaceship’ incorporates a water-cooling system.

The combined result is a station that cuts power use and takes us back to the days when train stations were equivalent to cathedrals in the public-space pecking order.